here's one more reason to appreciate Toyota with them further supporting the green car market and soon enough to make their plug-in technology standard. I believe after Toyota does this we will see other manufactures catching onto it and offering their cars standard as plug-in's.

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Toyota is set to make plug-in technology standard in the Prius, which is Europe's top-selling petrol electric hybrid by 2014. The plug-in Prius, which is already available in Ireland, can be recharged from an ordinary household electricity outlet.

Toyota considers that the plug-in hybrids offer the most promising next-generation technology.

The new 2012 Toyota Prius model will be priced at about the same level as the current model and will feature high-performance lithium ion batteries, enabling it to travel more than 60km per litre of petrol, compared with 38km for the current version, according to new reports.

Toyota has reported that cumulative sales of the Prius had reached two million units worldwide. The company is aiming for overall hybrid vehicle sales of a million units a year by 2015, compared with 700,000 units in 2010.

The Prius was first launched in Japan in 1997 and began selling in Europe, North America and other markets in 2000. The second generation was released in 2003 and the third generation in 2009. Toyota sold 42,932 Prius models in Europe last year, up from 41,989 in 2009, according to data from JATO Dynamics.

Toyota is working on the development of an electric version of its iQ minicar. The electric iQ will have an electric drive based on the Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive system and a new flat lithium-ion battery pack. Toyota claims this will give the car a potential driving range of up to 105km on a single charge.

The EV prototype is being tested on European roads this year, with a potential market introduction through a leasing program expected in 2012.